LOVE THY NEIGHBOR — Inspirational Story of 2009

December 31st, 2009

Reader Ashley writes:

“In October, a young child, Anna, had her yellow tricycle stolen. This would be crushing for any young child as I’m sure we can all remember our childhood bikes, a symbol of our earliest independence (well, at least it was to me.) Anna’s tricycle was a little more important to her, however than most other children her age. Anna has a developmental disability and uses her bike as therapy. The family was able to get the $400 bike because of a grant they received, but it was not about the money for them. They wanted the bike back so that Anna could continue to ride up down the streets on her own…not tandem with her mother. The family pleaded with the person who took the bike to just return it and no questions would be asked. Throughout the few local interviews done on the story, the family never seemed bitter. They believed someone made a mistake and didn’t realize what type of bike they were taking (not that taking any bike is OK).

About a week after the bike went missing, someone returned the bike to the family. They placed it back in their yard at night where they had taken it several nights prior. The part that I found interesting was that as the media stations reported on the returned bike, they briefly brushed over another piece of information: while the family waited for the “bike thief” to be found, a good, anonymous Samaritan had bought Anna another yellow bike. Someone who did not know this child chose to spend $400 dollars so that she could regain her independence. This, although very much under-reported, was so inspiring to me. Anytime a stranger chooses to input good things into the life of another, I believe more good comes from it, and it did. Because Anna now had two yellow bikes (thanks to the Good Samaritan), Anna’s family donated the returned bike to another child with the same developmental disability as Anna.

This story makes me smile. Inspiration for me is looking at what others do, say and how they live and wanting to the same.”